Regions

Glow taps Walgreens' Rx API for birth control refills

San Francisco-based Glow, maker of digital health tools for women, integrated Walgreens' Prescription Refill API into its app so that Glow users can refill their birth control prescriptions directly from their Android or iOS app.

Walgreens first made its medication refill API available to developers in February 2013. The company tells MobiHealthNews that a dozen other apps have made use of the API since: Capzule PHR, CloudMetRx, DailyRx, GenieMD, HealthSavvi, Healthspek, Mobile Health Library, OnTimeRx, PocketPharmacist, Rxmindme, WebMD Rx, and ZipScript.

Glow's first app, also called Glow, was initially designed for women who want to get pregnant, but expanded soon after to include women who are not trying to conceive, but want to track their periods. Based on the option a woman selects in the app, she can track her fertility cycle, view trends, and receive notifications aimed at helping her live a healthier lifestyle or get pregnant.

Women who just want to track their periods can also enter the type of birth control they are using. Options include withdrawal, condom, pill, and IUD.

If a woman selects pill, she will also be able to add her refill information for her local Walgreens or Duane Reade store. Glow will remind the user about refilling a prescription when it's almost finished.

Last year, Glow launched another app, called Glow Nurture, for pregnant women. The app offers users a very similar experience to Glow. The main screen shows women a picture of a baby and the picture changes as weeks and month pass to represent the baby’s growth. Women can also run through a list of questions about how they feel physically and emotionally, if they’ve exercised, how much weight they’ve gained, how much water they’ve had, and if they’ve done their kegel exercises.

In November 2014, Glow added a new feature to their pregnancy app:postpartum-focused tracking. With the addition of the postpartum support, Glow’s pregnancy app now offers a breastfeeding log — breastfeeding affects nutrition and sleep cycles, which can contribute to postpartum depression — and insights that Glow aggregated from medical journals and its medical advisory board.